Chapter 132 - Unexpected Breakthrough

A/N: Trigger warning! An allusion to child sexual abuse in this chapter. I DO NOT CONDONE THESE BEHAVIOURS!

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Kano pulled out his tongue and bit it lightly while showing an apologetic frown.

"Actually, after thinking about it, I don't think I should present my analysis of Artist Lang's work just yet," Kano admitted.

"Why? You don't have to worry, I won't get offended."

"That's not it. With the other artists here, I had sufficient information about their pasts and history to extrapolate an analysis from their works. But with Artist Lang, I don't have any background research to work with. Anything I say will only be a theory," Kano explained.

"That works too. If you want to know anything, just ask me," Keegan offered with a sincere nod.

"Based on the work on display here, and those of Artist Lang's that are owned by the Rasmus Clan, I've noticed a common trend where fewer qualitative tonal variations of colours are used in the paintings. For example, w-w-when Artist Lang painted the vibrant grass field, rather than utilising the common two-tone combination of verdant and viridian green, Artist Lang opted for a flatter, natural green shade, and using layering and dilution with water or oil to obtain the darker and brighter tonal variations. A-A-Actually, it is the case for any instance where a wide wash of colour is required, such as the skies, deserts, oceans, or any sprawling natural landforms."

Keegan pondered on the observation and affirmed with a surprised exclamation, "Do I? I... never noticed that."

"You do. From Artist Lang's earliest works, this d-d-detail remains consistent. I don't exactly know the reason why Artist Lang might revert to this, but I have a hypothesis," Kano indicated while showing a conflicted expression. "But I would like to hear Artist Lang's thoughts first."

Keegan scratched his head in confusion and answered while shaking his head, "To be honest, I didn't realise that I had such a quirk. To me, it all just felt right that way." He then turned to the audience and asked, "Didn't you guys notice this?"

The crowd shrunk back immediately. No one in their right minds would think of offending a 6-star artist by blabbing pointlessly. However, from the front, Artist Norris chimed in with an audible voice, "I don't think we contemplated over it either. To us, it looked perfect. The colours just worked. And given how Artist Lang's works successfully achieve the fifth level, we assumed that the quality spoke for itself."

"What's your theory then?" Keegan asked Kano.

"I thought about it for a while, and realised that back when I first started painting, a-a-and had a shortage of qualitative colour tones at hand, I used to do the same thing. I would layer and/or dilute my available natural paint shades to achieve varying tones exactly how Artist Lang does it. This got me thinking, does Artist Lang not have access to a lot of paint either?" Kano asked with an innocent inflexion in his voice.

The audience broke into uproarious laughter upon hearing this.

"The boy sure knows how to joke! Artist Lang is loaded! How would he have a shortage of colours?"

"Don't tease him, the boy did say that it was just a hypothesis..."

"Let's be real now. Hypotheses need to have some factual foundations."

As the crowd descended into condescending conversations, Keegan entered deep rumination. Achieving a 6-star license was no easy feat. This was especially true for practitioners in crafting type fields because it was at this stage that the practitioner was deemed an expert capable of consistently outputting the best that could be achieved in said field. For Enchanters, it refers to Legendary grade weapons and armours, for Alchemists it refers to the most potent of potions capable of swaying people with a mere whiff, and for Artists, it corresponds to level five paintings.

Keegan's position as a 6-star artist indicated that he could continuously produce level five paintings, with a success rate of 80% given his most recent statistic. To achieve this, he had to go through gruelling periods of constantly creating works, undergoing brutal critiquing and defence sessions, implementing changes to improve his techniques, rinse and repeat. It reached a point where Keegan himself wondered why he had first set out on this path; was he a low-key masochist who gained pleasure from beating himself emotionally? Unlikely. In fact, Keegan knew deep down exactly why he was suffering through it all.

Money...

The root of all evil, or the solution to all problems, depends on who you asked. For Keegan, it was undoubtedly the latter. Being borne of an ignoble household, Keegan, like many others, was constantly wanting for money. To pay the mounting debts accrued by his gambling-addicted father, to pay for the treatment of his mother who used to suffer from a debilitating illness - before her death - and at least enough to fill his stomach every day. Needless to say, Keegan's childhood was anything but pleasant. It was through sheer luck that he managed to crawl out of that bottomless pit.

Keegan had a talent for art. He knew it from a young age. One of the many part-time jobs he assumed would be to paint advertising boards for low-level plays and dramas, as well as for small businesses. He would receive the most commissions as well as the highest praises from his customers and the audience. It was through one of his works that he met his teacher. The old man stumbled upon one of his advertisements as he was travelling through Keegan's town, and discovered his budding talents. After a short introduction and offer, Keegan accepted the man and left his town without a second thought.

What Keegan had joined was a generic school for artists, much like the Academies of magic. Unlike those Academies, the school followed a similar hierarchical structure to that of Sects. What Keegan had become upon joining the school was an affiliated student, which was below a regular, paying student; he was only a student by name, which was more than enough for him seeing as he didn't have to pay for attending classes. Instead, he was responsible for cleaning the classrooms and facilities, maintaining the gardens, running errands for the paying students and teachers, and other menial tasks. He was basically a glorified servant who worked without wages... a slave. But that was fine too! Keegan could sit in classes, albeit a few metres outside the door, and he could meet and exchange ideas with a few teachers, in their bedrooms... at night1.

Nonetheless, Keegan never faltered. He realised very quickly that the life of an artist was a lucrative one. Besides he had no other choice. He didn't have any other skills or special abilities. And with a firm resolve to escape the mire that was his current life, Keegan burst through the ranks and quickly stood out among the other affiliated students, who were very few and far in between. At the end of every year, the affiliated students would undergo an assessment of sorts to gauge their advancement. Those that displayed acceptable results became regular students, with a conditional offer, while those that didn't were kicked out. It wasn't shocking that most, if not all, affiliated students would fail these assessments because they rarely got any time for themselves to sit in and learn. Yet Keegan was the first to pass! The other affiliated students didn't have any qualms about this either because they had personally seen how much he had put up with to achieve this.

Upon becoming a regular student, he gained access to the Common cultivation method the other artists practised and gradually started rising through the ranks. One must know that most such specialised schools had only a few cultivation methods in their possession, unlike Academies. These specialised cultivation methods were generally geared towards their own craft or profession and weren't suitable for combat. Keegan luckily found himself resonating with this cultivation method and swiftly advanced through realms, even faster than the other regular students.

His progress shocked the faculty in the school, one of whom - the man who had brought him in - immediately took Keegan under him as a sponsored student. This transition brought with it certain benefits, such as the Advanced grade version of his current cultivation method, and additional resources and support structures.

Sixty years after joining the school, Keegan advanced to the Core Condensation realm, and five years after that he earned his 6-star license. Along the way, he made a name for himself, earned a fortune, and forced himself to forget his modest origins. In fact, Keegan would often overcompensate, indulging in excessive spending to prove to himself that he was rich now. He lived in a house large enough to support three families. In it, he only used one bedroom, bathroom and living room. The rest of the rooms were perpetually locked and unused. Keegan would indulge in different cuisines, most of which he never even touched, just admired to boast his fortune.

Part of the reason why he lived this way was to convince himself that he was now in a good financial position. The other was to prove to himself that the money he'd earned wouldn't one day just disappear into a whiff of smoke, like a vicious nightmare.

Yet as the saying went, it was possible to take a man out of poverty but it was impossible to take poverty out of the man. Even with so much money, resources, and backers at his disposal, Keegan had subconsciously reverted to one of his earliest habits from childhood. One of the reasons why most businessmen commissioned Keegan for his painted advertisements was because of the severely low pricing point he had set for himself. He did it primarily to stand out amongst the competition and convince them to invest in a child as opposed to his competing professionals. Yet this didn't mean that he was running at a loss, he made just as much profit per commission as the other artists. This was because Keegan had figured out how to be economical with his paint usage. He would opt for natural paint, from powdered wild-flower petals and leaves mixed with oil and water. Although the life of these paintings with organically made colours was short, it was enough for the needs of advertising as it wasn't meant to be put up for a long time.

That habit of his - the preference of duller natural tones - had seemingly become ingrained into his bones that, even after reaching such heights, Keegan still preferred them over others. Although the paint he used was superior, more professional, its shades intimately matched those of the ones he had used in his childhood.

'The me that I've been trying to suppress my whole life never left. It was right beside me all along, holding my hand as I painted." A lone tear dripped out of Keegan's eye as a plethora of repressed memories flooded into his brain. He suddenly recollected the times from his childhood when he received commissions and earned menial copper for his works. They weren't much, but his works from back then brought him the most satisfaction. Even more than what he felt nowadays from making level five paintings.

The realisation struck him like a hammer and brought with it a boost of inspiration that shook his soul. The mana in the atmosphere turned turbulent as it started to form a massive whirlwind, with the eye centred on Keegan. The disturbance caught the attention of those around him, snapping them out of their trivial discussions.

"Artist Lang! He's breaking through in his cultivation!" One of them exclaimed.

"Are you stupid? That's not a breakthrough in his cultivation, that's advancement through |Introspection|. His spirituality achieved a breakthrough," Another one rebutted.

The incredible phenomenon lasted for exactly five minutes, within that time, Keegan indulged in the outburst of emotions that usually followed a spiritual breakthrough, and worked towards consolidating his cultivation. After taking a few more minutes to centre himself, Keegan opened his eyes and revealed a bright smile - one that originated from the deepest confines of his heart - towards Kano. He then walked up to the boy and patted his head lovingly.

"Thank you, Kano. Thank you," he said in a soft yet audible tone.

Kano smiled back and exclaimed with childish excitement, "Artist Lang called me by my name!"

"I did! You can call me Keegan," he offered back.

"B-B-But you are my elder, and my senior," Kano blurted out in shock.

Keegan shook his head and said, "I think we are more than that now. We're friends, right?!"